By IANS,
Dharamsala : “Efforts are on” to restart talks between the Dalai Lama’s envoys and the Chinese leadership at the earliest, the Tibetan government-in-exile Wednesday said.
“I have asked the two envoys of Dalai Lama to make efforts to resume the dialogue at the earliest convenience,” Tibetan prime minister Lobsang Sangay said in a statement.
The last round of talks – the ninth – was held in Beijing in January 2010. The government-in-exile submitted an “explanatory” note to the Chinese leadership to clarify its stand on genuine autonomy for the Tibetan people.
China, however, said the two sides had “sharply divided views as usual”.
Harvard-educated Sangay last week called a two-day meeting of the Tibetan task force, which was set up in 1999 to assist the envoys to hold talks with the Chinese, to mull ways to restart the dialogue process.
“I met the envoys – Lodi G. Gyari and Kelsang Gyaltse – and they gave me a comprehensive briefing on the status and prospects of the dialogue. Obviously, the ongoing tragic situation inside Tibet was also a major topic of discussions,” the prime minister said.
“I wish to reiterate my firm commitment in finding a mutually acceptable solution in the spirit of the middle-way approach,” he added.
“One of his foremost priorities is to make every possible effort to find a peaceful and negotiated resolution to the issue of Tibet,” he added.
A member of the task force said during the meeting no decision has been taken regarding the next visit of the Dalai Lama’s envoys to China.
China and the Dalai Lama’s envoys have held nine rounds of talks since 2002 to resolve the Tibetan issue. But no major breakthrough has been achieved.
In November 2008, the discussion between the two sides collapsed after China’s rejection of the Tibetan demands for autonomy.
Said a statement of the previous cabinet, headed by Samdhong Rinpoche, July 6, the day the Dalai Lama turned 76: “We have made our stand clear (to the Chinese) through the Memorandum on Genuine Autonomy for the Tibetan People and Note on the Memorandum on Genuine Autonomy for the Tibetan People (in January 2010 talks). Thus from our side there is nothing new to add.”
The Dalai Lama fled Tibet along with many of his supporters and took refuge in India when Chinese troops moved in and took control of Lhasa in 1959.
India is home to around 100,000 Tibetans.